The Sweet Escape Tour

The Sweet Escape Tour
Tour by Gwen Stefani

Promotional poster for the Journal Pavilion
Associated album The Sweet Escape
Start date April 21, 2007
End date November 3, 2007
Legs 5
No. of shows 57 in North America
26 in Europe
8 in Oceania
6 in Asia
1 in South America
98 Total
Gwen Stefani concert chronology

The Sweet Escape Tour was the second concert tour by American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani. The tour began in April 2007 in support of her second solo album The Sweet Escape.

Background

The tour was Stefani's follow up to her previous The Harajuku Lovers Tour. It went worldwide as compared to her previous tour which was constricted only to North America and had more than double the number of shows. It was Stefani's last solo effort as she rejoined her band No Doubt after the tour ended.[1] The main feature were usage of various props such as a prison for Stefani's opening act, a six-piece band and a large multimedia screen in the backdrop showing videos and animations.[2]

The tour had its own set of controversies. A group of students making up for The National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students, banned Stefani's concert that was slated to take place August 21 at Putra Indoor Stadium. The union's vice president, Abdul Muntaqim said, "Her performance and her attire are not suitable for our culture. It promotes a certain degree of obscenity and will encourage youth to emulate the western lifestyle. The concert should be stopped." The organizer of the vent, Maxis Communications later responded, "Stefani has confirmed that her concert will not feature any revealing costumes. She will abide by the Malaysian authorities' guidelines to ensure that her show will not be offensive to local sensitivities."[3] In April, Akon drew criticism for having on-stage dirty dancing with a fifteen-year-old preacher's daughter, at a club in Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a fake contest.[4][5] As a result, the tour's sponsor Verizon Wireless decided not to sponsor the tour.[6] Stefani donated $166,000 from her October 30 concert in San Diego to "The San Diego Foundation" fire relief fund.[7] On her June 22 and June 23 concerts in Irvine, California, Stefani was joined onstage by her No Doubt bandmates. They performed their songs "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", "Sunday Morning","Hella Good" and their cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life".[8]

Critical reception

The Sweet Escape tour was generally well received by critics. Christina Fuoco-Karasinski of Livedaily said, "The show's pacing was impeccable. Instead of silence or banter between songs, Stefani's band played musical interludes, or the dancers entertained."[9] Katrina-Kasey Wheeler on PopMatters appreciated the props saying, "everything from the set list to the visuals and props displayed a larger-than-life aura" and that "... years after Gwen Stefani first emerged as a major presence in the world of pop music, she's finally got a show to match".[10] Chris Macias of Sacbee also appreciated the concert and described the show as "It's part pep rally, part Broadway musical, plus a whole lot of breakdancing from Stefani's sidekicks".[11] Though some critics differed. Joan Anderman of Boston.com said, "...her bad notes were hers, part of a real personality rather than a standard-issue pop star."[12] T. Michael Crowell of the San Diego Union-Tribune also agreed and said, "Her vocal range is narrow, and her pitch is not always dead-on."[13] The tour was a commercial success. The tour was the twenty-third most successful tour in the United States in 2007. The tour grossed $30,511,669 through the 55 shows in the U.S with 53 sold-out shows.[14]

Broadcasts and recordings

Gwen announced in both the October 30 concert at the Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl and the November 1 concert at the Stockton Arena that she was filming her Sweet Escape Tour DVD. Only one concert of the Cox Arena, and Stockton Arena can be chosen for the Sweet Escape Tour DVD. For the Special occasion, Gwen did a special performance of the song "U Started It" which had only been seen at a few shows. During the concert she ran out into the audience to sing "Cool". However, the recorded performances were not released as a separate DVD. Instead, it is available on select deluxe editions of The Sweet Escape.

Opening acts

Stefani performing during the Tour.

Set list

  1. "The Sweet Escape" (performed with Akon)
  2. "Rich Girl" (performed with Eve)
  3. "Yummy"
  4. "4 in the Morning"
  5. "Luxurious"
  6. "Early Winter"
  7. "Wind It Up"
  8. "Fluorescent" 1
  9. "Danger Zone"
  10. "Hollaback Girl"
  11. "Wonderful Life"
  12. "Now That You Got It"
  13. Medley:
    1. "Don't Get It Twisted
    2. "Breakin' Up"
  14. "Cool"
  15. "Orange County Girl"
  16. Encore:
    1. "The Real Thing" (Wendy and Lisa Slow Jam Mix)
    2. "U Started It" 1
    3. "What You Waiting For?"

1 Performed at select dates.

Tour dates

List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold, amount of available tickets and gross revenue
Date City Country Venue Attendance Revenue
North America[15][16][17][18][19][20]
April 21, 2007 Las Vegas United States Pearl Concert Theater 2,542 / 2,542 $476,250
April 22, 2007 San Diego Coors Amphitheatre 14,415 / 19,392 $638,109
April 24, 2007 Fresno Save Mart Center 9,418 / 11,558 $516,726
April 25, 2007 Bakersfield Rabobank Arena 8,008 / 8,888 $478,171
April 27, 2007 Los Angeles Gibson Amphitheatre 6,047 / 6,123 $429,825
April 28, 2007 Phoenix Cricket Wireless Pavilion 20,101 / 20,101 $637,247
April 30, 2007 West Valley City E Center 8,947 / 9,749 $433,820
May 2, 2007 Denver Pepsi Center 8,972 / 12,140 $448,292
May 3, 2007 Albuquerque Journal Pavilion 15,100 / 15,100 $450,132
May 5, 2007 Dallas Smirnoff Music Centre 15,348 / 19,972 $516,627
May 6, 2007 Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion 13,554 / 15,895 $481,640
May 8, 2007 Tampa Ford Amphitheatre 15,855 / 19,438 $384,518
May 9, 2007 West Palm Beach Sound Advice Amphitheatre 17,191 / 19,238 $372,561
May 11, 2007 Atlanta HiFi Buys Amphitheatre 11,192 / 18,821 $355,439
May 12, 2007 Charlotte Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre 16,269 / 18,867 $341,408
May 14, 2007 Raleigh Alltel Pavilion 17,997 / 19,998 $276,162
May 15, 2007 Virginia Beach Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre 19,143 / 20,055 $379,448
May 17, 2007 Washington, D.C. Nissan Pavilion 11,860 / 22,527 $465,190
May 18, 2007 Holmdel PNC Bank Arts Center 16,905 / 16,905 $667,460
May 20, 2007 Wantagh Jones Beach Theatre 13,417 / 13,842 $753,637
May 21, 2007 Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena 7,522 / 7,567 $447,395
May 23, 2007 Boston Tweeter Center N/A N/A
May 24, 2007 Camden Tweeter Center at the Waterfront 13,309 / 19,067 $632,915
May 27, 2007 Atlantic City Borgata Events Center 3,069 / 3,071 $254,185
May 29, 2007 Montreal Canada Bell Centre 12,540 / 13,265 $826,489
May 30, 2007 Toronto Air Canada Centre N/A N/A
June 1, 2007 Detroit United States The Palace of Auburn Hills 13,071 / 14,424 $657,504
June 2, 2007 Noblesville Verizon Wireless Music Center 24,298 / 24,298 $369,829
June 4, 2007 Omaha Qwest Center 8,063 / 8,336 $416,540
June 5, 2007 Saint Paul Xcel Energy Center 11,692 / 15,482 $512,698
June 7, 2007 London Canada John Labatt Centre 9,048 / 9,214 $711,714
June 8, 2007 Chicago United States First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre 21,229 / 28,630 $573,567
June 10, 2007 Winnipeg Canada MTS Centre 8,893 / 11,274 $594,843
June 12, 2007 Edmonton Rexall Place 12,637 / 13,115 $874,964
June 13, 2007 Calgary Pengrowth Saddledome 13,957 / 13,957 $939,298
June 15, 2007 Vancouver GM Place 14,503 / 15,496 $996,582
June 16, 2007 Seattle United States White River Amphitheatre 14,588 / 19,532 $528,040
June 18, 2007 Sacramento Sleep Train Amphitheatre N/A N/A
June 19, 2007 Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre
June 22, 2007 Irvine Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
June 23, 2007
June 26, 2007 Santa Barbara Santa Barbara Bowl
June 27, 2007
June 29, 2007 Reno Reno Events Center
June 30, 2007 Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena
July 13, 2007 Monterrey Mexico Arena Monterrey
July 15, 2007 Mexico City Palacio de los Deportes 10,676 / 18,345 $542,426
July 18, 2007 San Juan Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum 3,850 / 5,715 $332,378
South America[21]
July 21, 2007 Bogotá Colombia Simón Bolívar Park 30,000 / 35,000 $1,875,249
Oceania[22][23][24]
July 26, 2007 Auckland New Zealand Vector Arena N/A N/A
July 28, 2007 Brisbane Australia Brisbane Entertainment Centre
July 30, 2007 Sydney Acer Arena
July 31, 2007
August 2, 2007 Melbourne Rod Laver Arena
August 3, 2007
August 5, 2007 Adelaide Adelaide Entertainment Centre
August 7, 2007 Perth Burswood Dome
Asia[25][26][27][28][29]
August 11, 2007[A] Chiba City Japan Chiba Marine Stadium N/A N/A
August 12, 2007[A] Osaka Maishima Arena
August 14, 2007 Kallang Singapore Singapore Indoor Stadium
August 16, 2007 Hong Kong China AsiaWorld Arena
August 19, 2007 Bangkok Thailand Impact Arena
August 21, 2007 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Putra Indoor Stadium
North America[30][31]
August 24, 2007 Honolulu United States Neal S. Blaisdell Arena 13,661 / 13,661 (100%) $904,998
August 25, 2007
Europe[19][20][29][31][32][33][34][35][36]
September 10, 2007 Hamburg Germany Color Line Arena N/A N/A
September 12, 2007 Munich Zenith Munich
September 14, 2007 Berlin Velodrom
September 15, 2007 Cologne Kölnarena
September 17, 2007 Paris France Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
September 18, 2007 Rotterdam Netherlands The Ahoy
September 20, 2007 Glasgow Scotland Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
September 22, 2007 Manchester England Manchester Evening News Arena
September 23, 2007 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
September 25, 2007 Birmingham National Indoor Arena
September 26, 2007 Cardiff Wales Cardiff International Arena
September 28, 2007 London England Wembley Arena
September 29, 2007
October 1, 2007 Belfast Northern Ireland Odyssey Arena
October 2, 2007 Dublin Ireland RDS Simmonscourt
October 4, 2007 Antwerp Belgium Sportpaleis
October 6, 2007 Zürich Switzerland Hallenstadion
October 7, 2007 Esch-sur-Alzette Luxembourg Rockhal
October 9, 2007 Oslo Norway Oslo Spektrum
October 10, 2007 Stockholm Sweden Stockholm Globe Arena
October 12, 2007 Helsinki Finland Hartwall Areena
October 14, 2007 Copenhagen Denmark Forum Copenhagen
October 16, 2007 Milan Italy Datch Forum
October 17, 2007 Vienna Austria Wiener Stadthalle
October 19, 2007 Budapest Hungary Budapest Sports Arena
October 20, 2007 Prague Czech Republic Sazka Arena
North America[37][38]
October 26, 2007 Las Vegas United States Pearl Concert Theater N/A N/A
October 27, 2007 Anaheim Honda Center
October 29, 2007 Tucson AVA Amphitheater
October 30, 2007 San Diego Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl 7,686 / 8,594 $262,451
November 1, 2007 Stockton Stockton Arena 8,066 / 8,837 $399,074
November 2, 2007 Oakland Oracle Arena N/A N/A
November 3, 2007 Santa Barbara Santa Barbara Bowl 4,805 / 4,805 $348,228
TOTAL 529,444 / 622,836 (85%) $50,000,000
Music festivals and other miscellaneous performances
A These concerts were a part of the Summer Sonic Festival.
Cancellations and rescheduled shows
April 21, 2007 Phoenix Cricket Wireless Pavilion Moved to April 28, 2007[39]
April 28, 2007 Las Vegas Pearl Concert Theater Moved to April 21, 2007[39]
June 7, 2007 Milwaukee Bradley Center Cancelled
November 8, 2007 Phoenix Dodge Theater Cancelled
November 9, 2007

References

General
Specific
  1. Greene, Andy "No Doubt Hit the Studio;Gwen Stefani Oversees Proceedings From Afar" Rolling Stone Retrieved on 2007-12-28
  2. Davis, Aaron "Gwen Stefani puts on pop performance at arena" Recornet Retrieved on 2008-01-07
  3. "Malaysian group urges ban on Gwen Stefani concert" Reuters Retrieved on 2007-12-22
  4. Telesford, Nigel. Akon 'cons' Trinidad, Trinidad Express, 2007-04-14
  5. Ramnarine, Kristy. Zen owner: Age limit 21 for club, Trinidad Express, 2007-04-20
  6. Leeds, Jeff. Verizon Drops Pop Singer From Ads, New York Times, 2007-05-10
  7. "Gwen Stefani Creates Wildfire Scholarship Fund" ET Retrieved on 2007-12-22
  8. Kaufman, Gil "Gwen Stefani And No Doubt Surprise Fans With Hometown Reunion" MTV Retrieved on 2007-12-22
  9. Fuoco-Karasinski, Christina. "Live Review: Gwen Stefani in Phoenix". Livedaily. Archived from the original on January 18, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2007.
  10. Wheeler, Katrina-Kasey. "Gwen Stefani – PopMatters Concert Review". PopMatters. Archived from the original on February 18, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2007.
  11. Macias, Chris. "Stefani's sweet escape to Sleep Train". Sacbee. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  12. Anderman, Joan. "A sweet escape with Stefani". Boston.com. Retrieved 2007-12-27.
  13. Crowell, T. Michael "Energy, glitz of Gwen a hit with faithful fans" San Diego Union-Tribune Retrieved on 2007-12-27
  14. "Top 25 most successful tours of 2007" Billboard Retrieved on 2007-12-24
  15. "News : The Sweet Escape Tour Announcement". Gwen Stefani. 2007-01-23. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  16. "News : Reno Tour Date Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-02-24. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  17. "News : Santa Barbara Dates Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-03-21. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  18. "News : New Las Vegas Date Added To Tour". Gwen Stefani. 2007-04-23. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  19. 1 2 "News : UK, Finland, Mexico And Puerto Rico Date Information". Gwen Stefani. 2007-03-10. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  20. 1 2 "News : Mexico City and Budapest Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-04-18. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  21. "News : Bogota Tour Date Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-06-15. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  22. "News : Australian Tour". Gwen Stefani. 2007-03-08. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  23. "News : Additional Sydney And Melbourne Shows Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-03-23. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  24. "News : New Zealand Date Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-04-13. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  25. "News : Gwen To Perform In Japan". Gwen Stefani. 2007-03-15. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  26. "News : Bangkok Tour Date Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-06-15. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  27. "News : Kuala Lumpur Tour Date Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  28. "News : Singapore Date Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-07-02. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  29. 1 2 "News : Hong Kong Date And Additional UK Dates Announced". Gwen Stefani. 2007-05-04. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  30. "News : Hawaii Date Announced". Gwen Stefani. 2007-03-27. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  31. 1 2 "News : Paris Date Announced, 2nd Hawaii Date Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  32. "News : European Tour Announced". Gwen Stefani. 2007-03-08. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  33. "News : Prague Tour Date Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-05-17. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  34. "News : Milan, Italy Date Added". Gwen Stefani. 2007-03-30. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  35. "News : More European Dates Announced". Gwen Stefani. 2007-03-16. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  36. http://www.gwenstefani.com/news/default.aspx?nid=7605
  37. http://www.gwenstefani.com/news/default.aspx?nid=8505
  38. http://www.gwenstefani.com/news/default.aspx?nid=8814
  39. 1 2 http://www.gwenstefani.com/news/default.aspx?nid=6857
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